


Lost Hearts, Lake House

by coolant



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-07 17:54:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4272573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolant/pseuds/coolant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josephine hires a crew to remodel a room in her house. She's got her eye on the handsome burly man putting in her flooring. He's got an eye on her, too.</p>
<p>There are lost hearts here, still, but they find each other a little easier now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost Hearts, Lake House

In the winter, a pipe exploded in the spare bedroom. As soon as spring comes, Josephine arranges to have the room re-modeled. The wood is warped, the walls stained and moldy. There’s no getting around it. For something as important of her home, she would spare no expense to make sure it was in impeccable shape.

By the summer, the work would finally begin. It’s noon and hot when the contractors arrived. The boss, Varric- the man she’d dealt with most- introduces his crew. The blond girl who clearly cut her own hair is Sera, the big bald man is called Bull (when she looks confused, he wiggles his bull-ring nose piercing with a finger). The third man is Thom and he is quiet and swarthy. Josephine greets them all and shakes their hands. She prides herself in remembering names, locking them to the faces they belong to. Thom’s sticks particularly well. She could see a tattoo of a barking dog creeping up his neck. He has a thick beard and long hair, pulled back. Josie finds herself wondering if he gets hot in the summer.

After the crew goes to work, she settles on the couch with a book. She can see into the spare bedroom from there. She doesn’t want to hover, but she also wanted to make sure everything went well. When she hears the sound of floorboards cracking, she sees Thom, gloved hands tearing wooden panels from the wall. She could see his muscles move beneath his t-shirt, could see the sweat starting to bead on his brow.

Josie drops her book and whips out her phone, sends a single text:

_**Josie:**_

_You need to get over here right now_

 

_\---_

 

Twenty minutes later, Leliana let herself in the front door. Vivienne is with her, looking bored. Josie pours them cold glasses of water and ushers them over to the couch.

“So, who is it?” Leliana has known Josie since they were children and knows how to tell when she has a crush. There’s no use being coy.

“One of the guys working-“

“Ooh, the big bald one?”

“No- the one with the beard!” Leliana giggles and shakes her head.

“You have the weirdest taste, Josie. I can’t figure you out.”

“I guarantee he’s been to prison.” Vivienne declares, hardly even looking up from her phone. Josephine leans in- she usually thinks Viv is full of shit, but she also had a social life Josie could only dream of, so she clearly knew something about people.

“Why would you say that?”

“He’s got a  _neck_  tattoo.”

“Lots of people have neck tattoos.” Leliana interjects. Vivienne scoffs.

“Maybe the people  _you_  hang out with.” Leliana shrugs and Josie bites her nails, watching Thom from the corner of her eye.

 

\---

 

The next day, the crew arrives in the morning. They set up a table saw in the front yard. Thom is on sawing duty. It’s even hotter than the day before. By the afternoon, he is drenched in sweat and figures he probably smells pretty rank.

He finds himself thinking this when Josephine emerges from the house with cold drinks. Fancy lemonade in glass bottles. Probably expensive. He thanks her, feels condensation cold on the glass, grazing her fingers as he takes it. She’s wearing a yellow blouse and she smiles at him. She’s really cute. He smiles back.

_Shit_.

Sera peaks out the open window at him and points at Josie, then begin violently pelvic thrusting at the air. Bull laughs, loud. Thom turns the saw back on.

 

\---

 

**_Leliana:_ **

_Have you talked to him yet?_

_**Josie:**_

_No… I don’t know what to say!_

**_Leliana:_ **

_Oh my god Josie_

_Have you just been staring at him_

_from your couch all day?_

_**Josie:**_

_Not ALL day…_

**_Leliana:_ **

_JOSIE_

 

_\---_

 

At the end of the third day, Thom asks if he can use her bathroom to wash up. Josie gives permission almost eagerly, even gets him a hand towel. Thom notices she has a slight accent, something about the way she said her r’s. She lingers awkwardly for a moment after handing him the towel, then with a nervous smile says she’d leave him to it, shuffling away.

_Yeah, she’s really cute._

 

\---

 

When it’s time to check the electrical, Thom is there by himself to finish up the flooring. The electrician’s name is Cole and he looks way too young to be properly certified. But he does really good work, sort of a savant, which is probably while Varric keeps him around. Thom has worked with him a few times, but has always found him a little unnerving.

Around noon, Josephine asks the duo if they want anything to drink. She’d done this every day so far. Thom smiles and declines. After she leaves, Cole pops out of the closet where he’d been working.

“You like her.” Cole states, packing up his tools. He stares at Thom through his long, greasy hair, one big blue eye boring into him.

“How would you know that?” Thom grunts, hammering a rogue floor panel into place.

“You smile different at her.”

“The hell does that mean?” Cole shrugs.

“You usually smile with just your mouth. At her you smile with your whole face.”

“Hmph.”

_What a weird fucking thing to say._

 

_\--_ -

 

Thom is the only one left at the end of the day, after the electrician leaves. To Josie’s surprise, he actually lingers instead of leaving straight away. He approaches her at the couch where she’d been more or less been camped out for the week. He’s wearing those silly fabric booties over his shoes, to keep the dirt off her nice floors.

“We’re off for the weekend, so,” He pulls something from the back pocket of his jeans. A tiny scrap of paper with numbers written in pencil. “If there’re any problem in the meantime, you can give me a call. Or text. Or whatever it is that people do.”

It strikes Josie then that he looks a good deal older than her. The crinkles around his eyes and the lines on his forehead. This only made her already thumping heart beat faster.

“I will.” She manages. She smiles, holding the little scrap with both hands. He nods and lets himself out. When she hears his truck rumble away, she looks down at the paper and grins, shimmying her shoulders. She dives for her phone on the counter.

                                                                                 ** _Josie:_**

_Guess what I’ve got?_

**_Leliana:_ **

_A date??_

_**Josie:**_

_No… but close!_

_A phone number!_

 

Leliana replies with about 6 dancing lady emojis.

 

\---

 

Josie considers making up a problem with the work on the spare bedroom on Saturday. She investigates, looking for something she could pretend to be concerned about. In the end, she spends the night drinking wine and watching soap operas. She puts her phone under a couch cushion.

 

\---

 

On Sunday, Thom gets a text from a number he doesn’t know.

 

**_UNKNOWN_ **

_Hi! I hope you’re having a good weekend!_

_This isn’t even remotely related to the_

_re-model… But my friends and I are getting_

_together tonightto watch the new_

_Game of Thrones._

_You’re welcome to come, if that’s your thing!_

_No pressure though!_

 

Two minutes later, another one.

 

**_UNKNOWN_ **

_This is Josephine, by the way! From the_

_lake house. Should have lead with that_

_haha!_

 

It takes him a good 20 minutes to successfully save her number in his phone. This is his first touch-screen. He hates the thing. He always presses more keys than he means to. He types in her name.  _Josephine._  He puts the phone down and looks at it, drumming his fingers on his shitty kitchen table.

_**Thom:**_

_Sounds fun. What time?_

**_Josephine:_ **

_Awesome! 8PM!_

 

Thom leans back in his chair, rubbing his neck.  _Awesome._ He Googles what Game of Thrones is.

 

\---

 

It’s just Leliana and Dorian that night. Cullen has a quote “work thing” and Cassandra’s out of town. Vivienne had gotten an invitation when Josie started hosting impromptu gatherings a year before, but responded with something to the effect of “I would literally rather do anything else.”

Dorian makes himself comfortable, immediately staking out the far right of the couch, arranging pillows and blankets just-so. Leliana sits next to him, poking idly at a big bowl of popcorn. Thom arrives just before the episode starts, rapping softly at the front door.

Josie invites him in warmly. It’s strange, seeing him at night time, seeing him without sawdust or work-gloves. He’d come bearing chips and dip, probably purchased from the corner store down the road. She thanks him profusely, immediately setting the chips and dip up on a plate for everyone to share. From the kitchen counter, she introduces him to the other two.

“Nice to meet you, Thom.” Leliana says, her smile a little impish. Dorian hums in accord, perfectly shaped eye-brow arching as he gives the man a once-over.

There is only one spot left on the couch and Josie insists Thom have it. She sets up some pillows on the ground and sits near his feet. Her heart flutters and she’s glad he can’t really see her face from there, her cheeks flushing at their closeness.

 

\---

 

Not five minutes into the episode, Thom looks at her and realizes he can see down the front of her shirt.

_Jesus Christ, man._

He doesn’t look downward for the rest of the show.

 

\---

 

After the episode, Leliana and Dorian leave. Leliana squeezes her shoulder and Dorian gives her obnoxious wiggle of his eyebrows. There’s a stillness after they leave and Josie fidgets. She hurries to the fridge- when in doubt, offer refreshments. She offers him something to drink and begins rattling off all the fancy beers and liquors she has, mostly to accommodate the varied tastes of her picky friends.

“No thanks.” He says easily. Then, less easily, “Been sober seven years.”  He shrugs his hands into his pockets. Not exactly great form to immediately throw I’M AN ALCOHOLIC on the table while getting to know a cute lady. He wonders if he does it in part to scare her away.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry- for offering- and everyone else was drinking, I didn’t-“

“No reason you should have known.” Then he smiles, tilting his head towards her. “Really, it’s not a big deal.” When she still seems to be searching for something to say, he offers, “If you’ve got any more of those lemonades, I’ll take that.”

This seems to make her feel better for whatever reason. She finds him a lemonade, he takes a sip. They chat a little about the episode. Thom tells her he thinks he might have read one of the books a long time ago, but doesn’t remember which one.

She asks about a tattoo on his forearm. It’s a delicate and ornate image of a sword. He tells her it’s Excalibur. She seems to find this thoroughly interesting, but he can’t figure out way. He’s not interesting at all.

 

\---

 

Before Thom leaves, he kisses her. Josie doesn’t think he had planned on it. She follows him too closely as she leads him to the door and he turns around to say something, only to find her face inches from his. Neither of them move. Josie had worried his beard might itch. It doesn’t. He’s warm and squeezes her arm lightly. His lips taste like chips and dip.

She can’t help but smile when he pulls away and says goodnight.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'll do more of this because I love Josie and Blackwall and I want them to be in a setting where they can make out and stuff.


End file.
